Not a great RAW tonight, not when all three 'main events' were non-matches.

The first hour was topped off by a Bray Wyatt promo that was typical Bray vs Cena fare. It did give me my personal highlight of the night, when JBL tried to stop Rowan and Harper from making Lawler get in the ring and got clotheslined for his efforts. Believe me, it made the next hour the best of the three, as I no longer had to listen to JBL's god-awful commentary.

Unfortunately, Harper didn't break JBL's jaw, so he was back to stink up the last hour of the show and the second of our non-match 'main events', Bryan coming out to tell Stephanie "NO!" He refused to surrender the belts with a pretty awesome and intense promo, with Steph declaring that at Payback, he would either forfeit the belts or see Brie get fired. I'm predicting that Bryan goes over Steph's head and hands the belts over to Vince himself, so he can still 'do the right thing' and have time off to recover while refusing to bow his head to the Authority.

The last non-match was a contract signing with the Shield and Evolution. The Shield hit the ring first and tossed all the chairs and the table out of the ring. After everyone signed the papers everyone jumped into the ring for a brawl, this time with Evolution putting Reigns through the announce table.

Other thoughts:-JBL suggesting that midgets should be sold as 'wrestling buddies' may be the most offensive thing I've heard him say in awhile. Human slavery; it's midgets, so it's funny!-Speaking of the El Torito match, I was embarrassed for the announcers for trying to pretend it was a real injury. Not JBL though; I just wanted to strangle him with Torito's yanked-off tail. Gods, can't they get ANYONE else to do color commentary? Someone who isn't a giant black hole of suck?-Emma got to wrestle, yay! She actually won, too, which I didn't see coming. Alicia Fox still got to deliver a post-match beatdown and pull a lot more antics, including giving an atomic wedgie to the ring announcer or ... someone. Apparently the WWE is just fine with wrestlers assaulting random officials at ringside. For once, I had to agree with JBL ... why the fuck wouldn't they just call Security? Alicia Fox is crazy and kinda scary, but not THAT scary. She's not Mongo, she doesn't just get mad if you shoot at her.-Glad to see RVD was actually hitting his spots again.-Poor Sandow. So they gave him Al Snow's "I jobbed too much, now I'm crazy" gimmick, and had him dress up as Davey Crockett. I don't see this ending well.

The show as a whole was three hours of dull. Probably could've figured that it would be a slow week, what with Bryan unable to do anything more than talk, but THREE non-match main events? That's just flat out pathetic. I hope next week will bring better things, with the fallout from the Payback PPV ... er, 'special event.'

Last week they were definitely going to settle the championship situation, except that they're going to decide it this week instead, except that they're going to decide next week instead. I'm starting to think that Bryan isn't going to lose the title just because this seems like pointless wasting time and they'd only do that if they are waiting for Bryan to get healthy (I hope).

This has been some pretty bad build up for a few weeks now but the card for Payback still looks pretty good in my opinion. The Shield/Evolution and Cesaro/Sheamus have been booked pretty simply but effectively. I'm looking forward to the Hair vs. Mask match and I'm assuming Swagger and Adam Rose will be added to the card. Alicia Fox has been entertaining despite the weirdness of her attack on random officials tonight.

How can the WWE support anti-bullying campaigns when there are wedgies on their programming!?

The midcard weakness is rearing its ugly head again and it's times like this that I really miss the brand split. Guys like Adam Rose or Bo Dallas could have easily taken those exact same gimmicks and sharpened them up for a smaller, lower-pressure Smackdown environment, while also getting a good degree of exposure. Today, they're trotted out on Raw and sent to die. It especially hurt to watch Bo, who was trying his damndest to get the character going and just got nothing.

The E's booking continues to astound me. I literally don't know a single other match on the Payback card other than the main event and the Wyatt/Cena match for a feud that just needs a mercy killing in the worst way.

The Bryan situation is frustrating, probably to all parties involved. Any momentum from the WM30 win has been promptly pissed away, thanks to the Kane nonsense and now thanks to the neck surgery. Sure, nobody can control that sort of thing, but The E certainly isn't making it better by dragging it out like this. And God help them if Bryan gives up the title on Sunday for the sake of saving Brie Bella's job, because that Chicago crowd will eat them alive if that happens.

The question I have with the Bryan angle is, where can they even go with this? It's not like Bryan's coming back in two weeks. He's laid up for a good, long while. How long can they possibly drag this out?

I don't BO-lieve these storylines are going to work. Its probably a good thing Payback is falling in time when not much is on TV, so people may watch it on the Network. I assure as hell wouldn't buy it. Cena is probably going over Bray. The rumor is MitB is going to be for the title which is cool depending on who is going to be in it.

Originally posted by It's FalseThe question I have with the Bryan angle is, where can they even go with this? It's not like Bryan's coming back in two weeks. He's laid up for a good, long while. How long can they possibly drag this out?

I haven't seen anything recent about his injury, but the last thing I saw was that they expected him back by Money in the Bank (some were saying Payback, but that doesn't look like it's happening). You could definitely string stuff along until then. Certainly, based on how the promo went last night and the level of confidence in Bryan's voice, I think the plan is to let him ride out the injury as champion.

Give the push to see PPVs on the Network now, do they have to do anything with the belt? As long as Bryan can show up on RAW and lead a chant or nine, isn't that as good as a title defense for the WWE?

I argue the belt can help Evolution in Bryan's absence AND whatever face is solidified in the main event by challenging for the belt AND Bryan by returning to win the belt back at another PPV/special.

Cesaro has won two RAW matches with a German suplex. So it needs a new name (Swissplex?), and he needs someone besides RVD to sell it. I prefer almost any move to the Neutralizer as a finisher.

At the end of Raw during the Shield vs. Evolution contract signing, the camera man very briefly zoomed in on the contract right at the beginning of the segment. I went back and paused it to see what a WWE "contract" actually says and, I kid you not, this is word for word what the small print at the bottom of the page said:

"World Wrestling Entertainment is a creative genius. The whole creation of the universe was fashioned by his ever-toiling hands. All living mortals should praise his name and image." -----------------------------------------------------------

Wow, so I don't think anyone was rushing to buy the Network to catch Payback after that Raw.

Hidden Highlight for me was JBL quickly swiping away his hat from plain view and hiding it as soon as Alicia Fox lost and got out on the commentators' side of the ring. JBL is fond of his hats and doesn't want to lose another one. One a side note, Alicia KNOWS how to give a wedgie. Man, she tore the elastic band off the underwear of that poor man at ringside, though he did get a kiss out of the whole ordeal.

The commentator camaraderie between Lawler and Leyfield was very touching. Unlike blind_guardian, I don't actually find JBL as actively offensive as the other two, so I did miss him for the hour or so that he was gone.

Poor Brad Maddox got fired, so there'll probably be a new GM for Raw, and I get the feeling he'll become entangled in the Bryan/Steph storyline. Since the general feeling I got from the way that arc has developed is that Bryan's injury is not serious enough to warrant a forfeiture and yet not mild enough for him to compete Sunday, it looks like he's going to get to ride it out while still champion. If they need to buy another month's time (until the next PPV) it would make sense to add a Vince-appointed GM to the mix to give Bryan an ally against the oppressive Authority.

I still don't understand why I'm supposed to love Adam Rose. Although I did see flashes of out-of-control anger that many here have demanded in his post-match beatdown of Swagger (complete with Swagger screaming "get off me!" as he scampered out of the ring), so there's some development.

Originally posted by It's FalseThe question I have with the Bryan angle is, where can they even go with this? It's not like Bryan's coming back in two weeks. He's laid up for a good, long while. How long can they possibly drag this out?

I haven't seen anything recent about his injury, but the last thing I saw was that they expected him back by Money in the Bank (some were saying Payback, but that doesn't look like it's happening). You could definitely string stuff along until then.

Originally posted by Last week's ObserverAccording to sources within the company, plans before the surgery were for Bryan to return on the 6/29 Money in the Bank PPV in Boston. The latest word is that he may not make that deadline and they are booking a new card if they are without him as a contingency plan.

The PPV after Money in the Bank would be three weeks later, Battleground, on 7/20 in Tampa. The belief is if he’s not able to make it back for Money in the Bank, that would probably be the return, with SummerSlam four weeks later considered a worst case scenario.

It's hard to put the title on ice all the way to SummerSlam. Even just putting it on hold until Battleground creates a big storyline problem (why doesn't the MITB guy immediately cash it on the Bryan?) but it's so hard to take away the title from him when the storyline is they've already done it - twice.

A long time ago, WWF was able to do entertaining things with Steve Austin while he was unable to compete due to a neck injury. They've got to find a way to do the same again.

To me JBL is the shining force in the announce team right now. Of course he's offensive and crude; he's a heel commentator! On that note, considering that what's coming out of Lawler's and Cole's mouth is piped straight from McMahon and Dunn, maybe when JBL makes fun of them, he's actually making fun of the guys he doesn't really even need the paycheck from.

Or something. I dunno.

Rest of the show was okay. I think everybody and their mother has a theory about what will happen when Bryan hands over the belt/or not.

"Laugh and the world laughs with you. Frown and the world laughs at you."-Me.

There is no one in This Business performing at as high a level as Alicia Fox right now.

Originally posted by It's FalseThe question I have with the Bryan angle is, where can they even go with this? It's not like Bryan's coming back in two weeks. He's laid up for a good, long while.

Here in Pittsburgh, they started new local spots last night advertising Bryan wrestling on Smackdown on June 24, teaming with the Shield against Orton and the Wyatts. They also have advertising out for him defending against Triple H at MSG in July. So I believe they believe as of right now that he'll be able to work the next PPV. Which is great news until you realize we still have to blow off the The Demon Kane feud.

Originally posted by It's FalseThe midcard weakness is rearing its ugly head again and it's times like this that I really miss the brand split. Guys like Adam Rose or Bo Dallas could have easily taken those exact same gimmicks and sharpened them up for a smaller, lower-pressure Smackdown environment, while also getting a good degree of exposure. Today, they're trotted out on Raw and sent to die. It especially hurt to watch Bo, who was trying his damndest to get the character going and just got nothing.

Yeah, Bo Dallas is a great character and it's weird to see NXT gimmicks put in front of a RAW (or even SmackDown) audience and just not work.

They still have shows like Main Event and SmackDown with less pressure, so I don't think a brand split would fix it here. What they need are writers who care about their characters and give them meaningful things to do. There's no reason why they can't make the US/IC Title the focus of SmackDown without doing a full brand split and treat it the same way they do NXT, with its own stories and highlighted stars.

They kind of sorta do that anyway, just without putting any real effort into it.

Originally posted by thecubsfanIt's hard to put the title on ice all the way to SummerSlam. Even just putting it on hold until Battleground creates a big storyline problem (why doesn't the MITB guy immediately cash it on the Bryan?) but it's so hard to take away the title from him when the storyline is they've already done it - twice.

A long time ago, WWF was able to do entertaining things with Steve Austin while he was unable to compete due to a neck injury. They've got to find a way to do the same again.

I really think that's the key, is honing in on having him do things like Austin in late '97.

The thing is, I've seen much worse in my time watching wrestling. I remember the eternal Shane Douglas vs Taz feud in 1998 when Douglas didn't defend the title for most of the year until coming back to drop it to Taz at the January '99 PPV. Let's also not forget that Dean Ambrose defended his US Title an amount of times you can count on one hand for a year.

They just need to get creative. What I've been seeing on RAW for the last three weeks is anything but that. It's stalling, it's treading water. Probably because they don't know exactly how long Bryan's recovery time is going to be and I can imagine that's a hard thing to gauge.

I think MITB would actually help if Bryan is out of action until SummerSlam. It could be incredibly dramatic seeing Bryan out there with a neckbrace every week, counting the days until his return at the PPV with a MITB challenger stalking him at every turn. Every in-ring promo becomes a lot more tense knowing that (I don't know, Cesaro?) is out there stalking him, ready to cash in at any point.

Bryan could also declare a surrogate for Payback on Sunday (an idea I heard was discussed) for the match against Kane. It's not something that hasn't been done before, at least with the tag titles.

There's options and it requires new ideas and thinking outside the box, something they're not very good at, so we get a lot of "Well, next week we'll figure this out!" nonsense like we've been getting.

Still, Bryan's version of Hogan refusing to sell the title to DiBiase was pretty well played this week.

Originally posted by SKLOKAZOIDWhat I've been seeing on RAW for the last three weeks is anything but that. It's stalling, it's treading water. Probably because they don't know exactly how long Bryan's recovery time is going to be and I can imagine that's a hard thing to gauge.

It seemed to me like the abrupt angle to fire Brad, who hasn't even been on TV since who knows, was done to clear the deck for some kind of babyface GM to arrive to halt the vacating decision. I don't even know who would fit that spot. (Please welcome CoMmissioner Punk!) Word has been Flair is coming back as a regular character, but I'm kind of skeptical about him doing lucid memorized promos where he has to actually verbalize "his" decisions that forward the show. I would rather see the Flair and Ziggler team put together when Dolph beats Batista on his last night in.

"Don't stop after beating the swords into ploughshares, don't stop! Go on beating and make musical instruments out of them. Whoever wants to make war again will have to turn them into ploughshares first" - Yehuda Amichai

They seriously don't know how to debut solo acts anymore. Like, zero idea. Maybe Big E came in strong as AJ and Dolph's enforcer, but the second they split them up and had to treat him as an individual, they just kind of bailed on him as a character. Otherwise, I can't think of a singles wrestler, superstar or diva, they've brought up in recent history who didn't flop immediately, require a quick reboot or just kind of aimlessly wander around for months.

A simple fix for recent debuts that requires almost zero thought: reverse how they brought in Adam Rose and Bo Dallas. Adam Rose can get his gimmick over in matches better than in interviews. Have him come down and start wrestling right away surrounded by his crew and just party to the back after winning, then talk backstage. Bo Dallas needs to lead with a storyline and interview to sell what he's supposed to be. Have him come out trying to motivate someone on a losing streak while basically ripping on the person for being a loser and seemingly be bo-blivious to what he's doing.

On a completely unrelated noted, don't have your COO punch out an employee immediately before ordering him to be beaten up more and fired the same night you want your Co-Principal Owner to threaten to fire a different employee for pushing her. Brad Maddox should get David Otunga's help to sue and become new Chief Operating Officer and Principal Owner of Stephanie McMahon.

Anyway, Raw is on a cold, cold streak and in major need of a shake-up. I'm not excited about anybody, with the possible exception of Barrett, after just recently being super excited about Bryan/Shield/Cesaro/Barrett and others.Reshuffle pretty much every feud. Pay Lesnar to be in Money In The Bank. Turn Sheamus heel and one of Barrett or Cesaro face. Reveal that Rev. Lemelson is actually Vince Russo in disguise trying to destroy WWE through their public holdings. The only thing I actually liked about that episode was Cody calling Dave a "skinny jeans sellout" and Randy "RK-Blows" (and apparently legit cracking Orton up), followed by Batista sulking about the skinny jeans thing and HHH ad-libbing a pretty hilarious "Well...ya do got big legs..."